MORENO VALLEY: 4 arrested, children removed in drug search

BY DARRELL R. SANTSCHI July 27, 2013; 06:29 PM http://www.pe.com/local-news/riverside-county/moreno-valley/moreno-valley-headlines-index/20130727-moreno- valley-4-arrested-children-removed-in-drug-search.ece

Five toddlers and an elderly adult were removed from a Moreno Valley home Friday, July 26, during a drug-related search that resulted in four arrests. Riverside County sheriff’s deputies served a drug-related search warrant at a home in the 27300 block of Wildwood Street. The warrant was the result of an investigation into drug sales and thefts in the city of Perris, according to a Sheriff’s Department news release. The five children, ranging in age from 1 to 4 years, were placed in protective custody of Child Protective Services and an elderly person, whose age was not disclosed, was taken by ambulance and placed in adult protective custody. During the search, the release said, deputies found evidence of drug paraphernalia and marijuana cultivation. Four people were arrested on suspicion of marijuana cultivation, possession of marijuana for sale, conspiracy, child abuse and elder abuse. Biridiana Jasmine Olmos, 22, Giovanna Iadlee Olmos, 26, and Jermaine Gregory Brand, 27, were booked into the Southwest Detention Center in French Valley. Their bail was set at $35,000 each. Leonard Manuel Olmos, who was also arrested on suspicion of misdemeanor resisting arrest and spousal abuse, was also booked into French Valley. His bail was set at $35,000. MORENO VALLEY: Jobs analysis doesn’t mesh with warehouse realities

BY DAVID DANELSKI AND KIMBERLY PIERCEALLSTAFF WRITERS June 16, 2012; 04:55 PM http://www.pe.com/local-news/riverside-county/moreno-valley/moreno-valley-headlines-index/20120616-moreno- valley-jobs-analysis-doesnt-mesh-with-warehouse-realities.ece

Moreno Valley city officials say the economic promise of 41.6 million square feet of warehouses envisioned for the east side of the city includes paychecks for “tens of thousands” of workers. The enticing projection, trumpeted amid some of the highest unemployment rates in the nation — 13.7 percent in Moreno Valley and 11.7 in the Inland region — grew out of an analysis by Inland economist John Husing. He calculated that the proposed World Logistics Center would put one person to work for every 2,000 square feet of warehouse space, creating about 20,000 “direct jobs.” Another 8,000 people would find work in and around Moreno Valley at restaurants, dry cleaners and other services needed by these workers and their employers. Husing predicts the warehouse complex will pump more than $4 billion a year into Riverside County’s economy. But public records, surveys of existing Inland warehouses and interviews with other experts show that Husing’s jobs projection might be overly optimistic and did not reflect trends in warehousing.

MORENO VALLEY: Two killed, five hurt in DUI crash AUGUST 19, 2013 BY JOHN ASBURY http://blog.pe.com/2013/08/19/moreno-valley-two-killed-five-hurt-in-dui-crash/

Traffic moves along Gilman Springs Road near Jack Rabbit Trail on Monday, August 19, in the area where a fatal DUI crash occurred late the night before. (KURT MILLER/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER) Two people were killed and five — including three children — were seriously injured in a head-on crash on Gilman Springs Road late Sunday, Aug. 18, in which authorities believe both drivers were drunk. A 2003 Volkswagen Passat crossed into oncoming traffic about two miles east of Alessandro Road and collided head-on with a 2005 Chevy Trailblazer shortly after 11:35 p.m., California Highway Patrol Officer Darren Meyer said.

View Fatal Gilman Springs Road crash in a larger map The crash killed Marco Bautista, 24, of Hemet, who was driving the Passat; and his passenger, Makhara Op, 23, of Moreno Valley, according to the Riverside County coroner’s office. Bautista was not wearing a seat belt, but Op was, the coroner said. Both men were declared dead at the scene. Investigators believe Bautista was under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs, but are awaiting blood tests, Meyer said. The Trailblazer was driven by Arturo Larios, 31, Hemet. He and four passengers — a 30-year- old woman and three children, ages 10, 8 and 4 — all suffered major injuries and were hospitalized, Meyer said. Larios was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence, Meyer said.

Moreno Valley barbershop owner who operated drug den sentenced By City News Service, on April 27, 2012, at 9:58 pm http://www.swrnn.com/2012/04/27/moreno-valley-barbershop-owner-who-operated-drug-den-sentenced/

A former barbershop owner who allowed drugs to be sold and used at his Moreno Valley business pleaded guilty today to maintaining a location for unlawful activity and was immediately sentenced to three years probation.

Kevin Rayshon White, 39, dropped his not guilty plea to the felony charge as part of a plea deal negotiated with the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office.

Under the agreement, which Superior Court Judge David Gunn approved, prosecutors dropped charges of being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm, carrying a concealed weapon and being a convicted felon in possession of ammunition in exchange for White’s acknowledgement of guilt on the unlawful activity allegation.

The Moreno Valley resident was arrested in late October, along with nine other suspects, following a weeks-long investigation by the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

According to an arrest warrant affidavit filed by sheriff’s Deputy Steven Leone, investigators who conducted the undercover operation observed at least nine drug buys in and outside of White’s business, K & M Barbershop at 24135 Sunnymead Blvd. The shop was shut down shortly after the defendant’s arrest.

In several instances, White was involved in setting up the drug transactions, but his associates generally took care of the hands-on sales and purchases, according to court papers.

Marijuana, rock cocaine and OxyContin were sold inside the barbershop and in the parking lot, according to Leone. Informants were used to make purchases, which law enforcement officers observed from a distance, the deputy said.

“During the course of his employment … (the barber) said that he witnessed White purchase marijuana from one of his employees at the shop,” the affidavit states. “The witness said White has done so on multiple occasions and (he) has been present when … White and all the other employees at the shop have smoked marijuana in a designated seating area just outside the back door.”

The ex-worker alleged the drug use was a daily occurrence. During one employee meeting, White “told the employees that … they should all be careful to not bring any extra attention to the shop because the police are watching,” according to the affidavit. While searching the barbershop and White’s residence in the 12000 block of Paseo Del Sol, investigators seized marijuana, brass knuckles and two unregistered handguns, according to sheriff’s officials.

Prosecutors alleged some of White’s associates were affiliated with area street gangs. A man was gunned down in the parking lot outside the barbershop in 2008 during an apparent drug-related confrontation that started in front of the business, authorities said.

After Moreno Valley Department of Building and Safety inspectors and code enforcement officers identified a number of safety violations in the barbershop, it was declared uninhabitable and padlocked.

MORENO VALLEY: Death penalty sought in Norma Lopez killing

BY JOHN ASBURY STAFF WRITER July 25, 2013; 01:39 PM http://www.pandora.com/station/play/6727943695876 49152 The man charged with killing Moreno Valley teenager Norma Lopez three years ago could face the death penalty if found guilty of her death. Prosecutors announced this week that they would seek the death penalty against Jesse Perez Torres, 37, who was ordered to stand trial on murder and kidnapping charges. A judge ruled there was sufficient evidence to try Torres after a single DNA sample was found on her earring, which matched Torres. If Torres is found guilty, a jury will hear evidence in a penalty phase to determine if he should be sentenced to death or life in prison without parole. Riverside County District Attorney Paul Zellerbach met with prosecutors, defense attorneys and Norma’s family before deciding to pursue the death penalty. Ultimately the brutality of the crime led prosecutors to seek death, Chief Deputy District Attorney Michael Soccio said. “This is a crime that shocks the community and we weighed the scariness and cruelty of the crime in making the decision,” Soccio said. “It’s such a vicious crime that we think a jury should make the call.” Norma, 17, was abducted July 15, 2010 while walking to a friend’s house after summer school classes at Valley View High School. She was last seen cutting through a field across from the school and an SUV was seen speeding away from the area. Police found Norma’s shirtless body five days later, beneath a grove of trees in a remote field about three miles away. In weighing the death penalty, Soccio said prosecutors considered Torres’ background, the vulnerability of the victim and “the callousness and brazenness of an attack on a schoolgirl.” “When a schoolgirl is walking home and abducted, then found dead and stripped to the waist, the severity of that crime warrants allowing the public to be put the person responsible to death and receive the most severe punishment allowable,” Soccio said. Norma’s death sparked a massive manhunt through the city, though for more than a year, police had no suspects. Torres was arrested in October 2011, when the DNA sample found on Norma’s earring matched a sample he provided during a 2010 domestic violence arrest. Domestic violence charges were never filed. Prior to murder charges, Torres had no prior criminal record. Following his arrest, Norma’s sister said she didn’t want Norma’s killer to face the death penalty, so that he could spend the rest of his life in prison to reflect on the crime. The death penalty “would be the easy way out,” Norma’s sister Elizabeth Lopez in October 2011. The family did not comment Thursday. Soccio said that prosecutors took the family’s wishes into consideration, but did not know if the family had a consensus on the death penalty. Torres is set to return to a Riverside courtroom Aug. 5. No trial date has been set. EDUCATION: Federal official pushes science, math fields

BY DAYNA STRAEHLEY STAFF WRITER June 05, 2013; 05:07 PM http://www.pe.com/local-news/riverside-county/moreno-valley/moreno-valley-headlines-index/20130605-education- federal-official-pushes-science-math-fields.ece

The United States has 3 million full-time jobs with benefits open, but too many students are graduating with the wrong degrees, a federal education official said Wednesday, June 5. Greg Darnieder, senior advisor on the College Access Initiative to U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan, toured part of Valley View High and Mountain View Middle schools in Moreno Valley after meetings with the Riverside County Office of Education. Darnieder said he came to spread the message that more students need to go to college and enter the fields of science, technology, engineering and math. STEM students don’t necessarily need four-year degrees but licenses and community college certification in their fields, Darnieder said. His message reinforces the message of the county education office, said Mike Barney, director of instructional services. Barney said he brought Darnieder to Moreno Valley because the school district is near the tipping point to accelerate growth in high school graduation and college-going rates. The district had the worst graduation and dropout rates in Riverside County in 2010 and 2011 and the biggest improvement in 2012, rising to 74.8 percent. Valley View High has shown the greatest improvement in graduation rates in the district, from 76.6 percent in 2011 to 84.2 percent on-time graduation in 2012. Darnieder met with Valley View counselors and student government leaders a few hours before their graduation and 11th graders in teacher Josh Clements’ honors English class. Nearly all of them plan to go to college and he asked them about what inspired their first career plans when they were young children. For example, student Alexis Ruiz-Koch said she wanted to be police officer with a K-9 unit when she was about 9 years old but changed her goal to being a registered nurse in the military, an idea she said her father shaped. A few students said teachers inspired them to be educators. The seniors in student government shared their college plans. Some planned majors to enter medical or dental fields, where Darnieder said there are plenty of opportunities. “For anyone interested in STEM-related fields your opportunities are going to be even brighter,” he said. Counselors and Principal Kristen Hunter said they follow students from Valley View’s honors and Advancement Via Individual Determination classes as they progress through college because teachers and staff know those students and their families so well. Darnieder challenged school leaders to also look at the college enrollment and progress of graduates in other classes and programs that aren’t necessarily college-prep.

MORENO VALLEY: Mental competency exam ordered for Mike Rios

BY RICHARD K. De ATLEY August 21, 2013; 07:09 PM http://www.pe.com/local-news/riverside-county/moreno-valley/moreno-valley-headlines-index/20130821-moreno- valley-mental-competency-exam-ordered-for-mike-rios.ece

Criminal proceedings against former Moreno Valley school board member Mike Rios in his assault with a deadly weapon case have been suspended while he undergoes examination by two court-appointed psychologists, court records show. Rios, 43, was sentenced to 14 years and four months in state prison earlier this year after he was convicted on pimping, pandering and insurance fraud charges. Authorities said Rios was running a prostitution ring out of his home while serving as an elected school board member. His trial date in a separate case on two counts of assault with a deadly weapon and one count of trying to bribe a witness had been scheduled to start with finding a court for jury selection on Sept. 23, but that date has been set aside. Instead, a Sept. 16 hearing is scheduled for Mental Health Court in downtown Riverside to hear the report of the two psychologists. The shooting incident took place outside Rios’ Moreno Valley home the night of Feb. 12, 2012, when two men who confronted him earlier at a local nightclub followed him back home. Rios has said the two men shot first. Investigation of the shooting led to evidence that resulted in the separate pimping and pandering case against Rios. Court records show that a motion by Rios’ attorney Leo Moriarty to dismiss the assault case was taken off the calendar on Aug. 16 to consider a motion that Rios may be mentally incompetent. Deputy District Attorney Michael Brusselback objected, but Judge Becky Dugan suspended the criminal proceedings and sent the case for a Monday, Aug. 19, hearing in the court’s downtown Mental Health department. Dugan also denied a defense motion for a hearing to release Rios on bail because of an ill relative. On Monday, Judge Mark Johnson appointed two psychologists to examine Rios and set the Sept. 16 reporting date. He also continued the suspension of the criminal proceedings. The examiners will determine whether Rios is competent. If he is, the criminal proceedings will resume, if not, Rios will undergo treatment and then will be re-examined. Rios had refused to resign from his school board seat in 2012 after charges were filed in both cases, but was removed on March 8 of this year, the day he was sentenced in the pimping, pandering and insurance fraud case. He has pleaded not guilty to the assault and witness bribing charges, and remains in custody.

Moreno Valley Councilman Marcelo Co resigns after arrest Marcelo Co, a subject of a federal corruption inquiry, has now also been accused of defrauding a county-run program of $15,000. August 13, 2013|By Richard Winton http://articles.latimes.com/2013/aug/13/local/la-me-moreno-valley-20130814

Marcelo Co, 64, was taken into custody after the Riverside County district… (Riverside County Sheriff's…) A Moreno Valley councilman whose home was recently searched as part of a federal corruption probe resigned Tuesday after being arrested and charged with fraudulently collecting $15,000 in home support services for his mother when she was overseas.

Marcelo Co, 64, was taken into custody Monday afternoon after the Riverside County district attorney's office filed eight felony counts against him, including grand theft, fraud and making a false claim. Woman's Screams Lead Police to Murder Scene in Moreno Valley The abrupt sounds prompted residents to call 911 about the commotion coming from a home in Moreno Valley this weekend.

Posted by Renee Schiavone (Editor) , August 04, 2013 at 10:35 PM http://banning-beaumont.patch.com/groups/police-and-fire/p/womans-screams-lead-police-to-murder-scene-in- moreno-valley Neighbors were awakened by gunfire and screams from a house in Moreno Valley, and when deputies arrived, they found a man dying from gunshot wounds, the sheriff's office revealed Sunday.

The abrupt sounds prompted residents to call 911 at 3:38 a.m. Saturday about the commotion coming from a home in the 24000 block of Atwood Avenue.

Once inside, sheriff's deputies— responding to "a report of shots being fired and a woman screaming"— found Christopher Chavez, 29, of Moreno Valley, suffering from an undisclosed number of gunshot wounds. Chavez was taken to a hospital where he later died, Riverside County sheriff's Sgt. Todd Torrenti said.

No other information was released as the homicide investigation unfolds, Torrenti said.

MORENO VALLEY: Caretaker arrested in double homicide BY BRIAN ROKOS April 29, 2013; 10:54 PM http://www.pe.com/local-news/riverside-county/moreno-valley/moreno-valley-headlines-index/20130430-moreno- valley-caretaker-arrested-in-double-homicide.ece

The caretaker of two Moreno Valley women found dead in their home Saturday was arrested Monday, April 29, on suspicion of murder, the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department said. The bodies were discovered after Drew Colston Stelp, 51, was arrested in Garden Grove after police there said he forced his way into his sister’s home Friday, tied up two people with a dog leash at knife point and threatened to kill them and himself. Stelp was hospitalized at Hoag Hospital in Newport Beach after drinking alcohol and taking large amounts of prescription drugs while in the home. After the home invasion, Stelp’s sister told Riverside County sheriff’s investigators that she was concerned for the safety of the Moreno Valley women, according to a Riverside County sheriff’s news release. Investigators then found the women dead in a residence in the 24000 block of Bay Avenue. The release did not say how the women died. Investigators questioned Stelp and arrested him. He was booked into Robert Presley Detention Center in Riverside on two counts of murder, with no bail. The release indicated that Stelp had previously been questioned, but it did not say when. Autopsies were conducted on the victims Monday, but they have not been identified, the Sheriff’s Department said. In the Garden Grove home invasion, KCBS 2 reported this account from police: Stelp knocked on the door of the residence in the 11000 block of Larkin Drive about 2 p.m. The cleaning woman opened the door and saw Stelp holding a bouquet of flowers. He asked for the female homeowner by name and then forced his way into the residence, tying the cleaning woman up with a dog leash at knife point. Stelp said that he was going to kill the homeowners, the maid and then himself. The male homeowner, Mike Mendonis, 62, then arrived about 2:30 p.m. and was confronted by Stelp with a knife, ordered to place a blanket over his head and sit next to the cleaning woman. Mendonis was also tied up, but he was later able to free himself and run out the back door. He asked a neighbor to call police. The victims told police that they saw Stelp drinking alcohol and swallowing a large quantity of prescription medicine that belonged to the homeowners. Stelp stole jewelry and fled in a blue pick-up with a camper shell, police said. Newport Beach police used spike strips to disable Stelp’s vehicle and arrested him. Stelp was recently released from prison in Arizona, where he served a sentence for armed robbery. He does not have a criminal record in Riverside or Orange counties. He was convicted of driving under the influence of alcohol in San Bernardino County in July 2012.